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Wessex Archaeology's Heritage Team recorded the standing remains of the former Staybrite Works, manufacturers of stainless steel at Meadowhall in Sheffield. The site includes a huge steel framed rolling mill building and ancillary workshops and buildings, c. 1907. It is thought to be the earliest electrically driven stainless steel rolling mill in the UK and was part of the huge Firth Brown steelworks.
The remains of a three storey power and boiler house also survive (with flooded basements) and there are decorative glazed tiles in the engine hall.
Investigations at the steel mill found an important series of drawings, both paper and microfiche, that had simply been thrown away when the building was cleared. The drawings show architectural details of the buildings and also the rolling mill machinery. Most drawings relate to the expansion of the works in the 1950s but the earliest, which is on linen, dates to 1913. The drawings will provide important information on how the building was used over the years.
